UNCF Career Pathways Initiative

The UNCF Career Pathways Initiative (CPI), funded by Lilly Endowment, is a $50 million investment over a seven-year period, that helps four-year HBCUs and PBIs strengthen institutional career placement outcomes with the goal of increasing the number of graduates who immediately transition to meaningful jobs in their chosen fields.

Through this initiative, UNCF manages a competitive grant-making process to award planning and implementation grants to institutions to help students achieve a greater return on their investment in the form of meaningful employment immediately after graduation.

“A Conversation on Culturally Relevant Practice”

To support the release of UNCF’s Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute (FDPRI) new report—”Culturally Relevant Practice: Implementation among Historically Black Colleges & Universities”— CPI hosted a Fireside Chat: “A Conversation on Culturally Relevant Practice,” featuring Dr. Lori Patton Davis, Dr. Venus Evans-Winters, Dr. Nadrea Njoku and Dr. LaToya Owens via Zoom. The panel discussed the importance of equity-focused research and program design, specifically in work with HBCUs and Black students.

Culturally Relevant Practice: Implementation among Historically Black Colleges & Universities (2021)

Culturally Relevant Practice: Reading List

The CPI is designed to strengthen career placement outcomes by encouraging participating institutions to enhance what their students gain from the liberal arts—critical thinking, creative problem solving, effective oral and written communication skills, diverse and global perspectives, among other things—with specific preparation, training and experiences they need to be employable and successful early in their chosen careers.

CPI in the News

CPI Fact Sheet

Classroom with professor speaking to room full of college students

What Is the CPI?

The CPI is based on the premise that the best-prepared graduates for the world of work and life benefit from both their liberal arts experience and intentional workforce preparation.

The Broken College-Career Pipeline

UNCF CPI aims to improve the ability of educational institutions to serve students who rely on them to prepare them for life after graduation, and employers who look to these institutions for well-prepared college graduates

A professor and student working together in a laboratory

Career Pathway Development Approach

To achieve the goal of helping institutions strengthen career outcomes for their students, UNCF has devised a three-pronged approach.

UNCF to Award $1.2 Million to Four HBCUs

UNCF announces the awarding of Liberal Arts Innovation Grants to four institutions participating in the UNCF Career Pathways Initiative (CPI). The initial investment from UNCF provides up to $300,000 to each institution to create a campus-based or virtual liberal arts innovation center that focuses on merging the technical discipline of STEM, healthcare, education, and finance into the liberal arts. The development of these Liberal Arts Innovation Centers (LAIC) will enable the institution to expand the research, provide training and development opportunities to faculty and staff and to incubate and test approaches to implementing embedding technical disciplines into the liberal arts.